community exemplified...

Mud, bugs, extreme heat, bad roads, kinds of toads and spiders i've never seen, bucket baths, latrines...yup, sounds like a weekend in the country. Truly though, for all of the discomforts it was beyond worth it to see and experience this community first hand.

The members that now make up the community left their homes for safety during the war. They fled to one of the few overcrowded refugee camps - 400 people in a church basement with one bathroom. There was little to no food and if they left the church they would be killed by the military - outsiders occasionally took risks and visited them, to bring food and, eventually, to help them leave the country.

With the help from a British man, they escaped to Nicaragua and lived there as refugees for 10 years. They hadn't known each other before the refugee camp, but they organized, formed a co-op to work communally and essentially became each others new family. And when they decided they wanted to return to their country, they weren't allowed. The government was threatened by an empowered group and feared they would be a political base for the guerrillas.

To make a long, powerful story shamefully short, they protested and fought and eventually made their way back into El Salvador - with a new communal plot of land. As part of the Peace Accords at the end of the war, the government agreed to redistribute the land. However, they were against the idea of giving it to a group of people rather than individuals - organized groups are threatening to the status quo. This community had become bonded enough that they fought to receive their land communally; they created a communal daycare, gave each family a piece of land to work individually, built homes for all together, and have developed the best educational system in the region.

What struck me as most moving is that the community has truly been a support network for the individuals within it. over the last 15 years, nearly all of the surrounding areas (whcih took their land in individual plots) have lost most of their land - poverty prevails and when land is all people have it's too easy to sell it for medicine or school or debt. However, in this community, it's not an option to sell. You have your land to work, but it's not yours to sell. You're part of a whole; and your success directly affect your community's success. These people work so ridiculously hard to continue to improve the lives of those around them.

I think in the face of affluence it's easier to forget the ways in which we are connected to our communities and the incredible potential for strength that's there. Perhaps this will be become more apparent as we get a little less comfortable in the states. Certainly this community isn't without it's flaws, but it was beyond encouraging for me to see this sense of community lived and out and exemplified so beautifully.